Linda S. Heard, Arab News

CAIRO, 23 March 2004 — Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual head of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, has fallen victim to “justice” Israeli-style. Early yesterday morning, as the octogenarian, white-haired, wheelchair-bound leader exited his local mosque after prayers, Israel’s Apache helicopter gun-ships lay in waiting on the direct orders, and under the personal supervision, of Ariel Sharon.

This high-profile extra-judicial assassination — one in the long line of many — has thrust the region into turmoil and far from weakening the Palestinians and their supporters it has united them. It has also gagged the moderates and fuelled the extremists.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has called for a three-day mourning period, and has accused the Israelis of crossing “all red lines.” Ahmed Qurei, the authority’s prime minister, has described Yassin’s murder as “one of the biggest crimes that the Israeli government has committed.”

Palestinian resistance leaders have declared an open war against the occupation and have vowed to target Sharon and others in his government. “War is now open with Israel,” Abdul Aziz Al-Rantissi told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya network. Rantissi himself escaped assassination when in June last year his vehicle came under a missile attack.

Fatah leader Hussein Al-Sheikh said the response would be “shuddering with earthquake-like effect.” A leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Abu Qusayee, warned that while “thousands of Israelis would now be targets, the head of our hit list is Sharon himself and his henchmen.”

From Beirut to Cairo, anti-Israel demonstrations have erupted in response to Yassin’s murder, while the leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood told the Al-Jazeera network, “There can be no life for the Americans and Zionists in the region.” Some 7,000 Egyptian students held an impromptu demonstration at Al-Azhar upon news of Yassin’s killing.

Condemnations have poured in from governments around the world including Britain. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, while conceding Israel has a right to defend itself, said there was no excuse for going outside international law. “We, therefore, condemn it. It’s unacceptable, it’s unjustified, and it’s very unlikely to achieve its objective,” he said.

The assassination is an embarrassment to the Egyptian government, which, along with Jordan, had been pulling out the stops to mediate between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority over cease-fires and peace proposals.

King Abdallah of Jordan, who recently met with Sharon at his private ranch for discussions on the future of Gaza, is likely to be even more embarrassed. His prime minister, Faisal Al-Fayez, read out this statement on state television: “We, in the government, condemn strongly this heinous crime and affirm this act will escalate the cycle of violence and instability in the region and will lead to more bloodshed.”

Emile Lahoud, the Lebanese president, termed the murder “a savage crime committed by Israel”, adding, “Israel is mistaken if it thinks by killing the resistance fighters, it can kill the Palestinian cause which is based on right and justice.”

Mohammed Al-Saqer, the parliamentary head of Kuwait’s Foreign Affairs Committee, asked the United States to clearly condemn the Israeli actions before other Palestinian leaders too became victims of Israeli aggression.

Thus far, a US State Department spokesman has only urged both sides to show restraint.

Israeli Foreign Ministry official Gideon Meir defended the murder saying that Israel held Sheikh Yassin responsible for scores of suicide attacks against Israelis. “He is the one who is sending children and women to explode themselves,” he said. Arab political analysts believe that, on the contrary, Sheikh Yassin was a moderating influence on the military wing of Hamas. But will the demise of Sheikh Yassin make Israelis and their backers any safer? Not according to Hamas, which has now suggested that the US could become a target for revenge attacks.

In a statement faxed to the Associated Press, Hamas said: “The Zionists did not carry out their operation without getting the consent of the terrorist American administration and it must take responsibility for this crime.”

If this is a serious threat, then it represents a change in strategy on the part of Hamas, which has always cited Israel as its sworn enemy, as opposed to Israel’s closest ally and financial backer the United States. This would be a blow to America’s “war on terror” as reflected by descending world markets.

The assassination could also lead to fundamentalist groups worldwide joining with Hamas and could shake the foundations of the Palestinian Authority, already struggling to maintain order with only 20,000 policemen and limited security resources. It could also prove an ideological turning point for Palestinians who have so far hoped that a just peace, forged under the rule of international law, would eventually prevail.

Those who wondered about Sharon’s unilateral decision to withdraw from Gaza and to build an apartheid wall separating the Palestinian residents of the West Bank from Israel could now have their answer.

It appears that Sharon, George W. Bush’s ‘Man of Peace’ is determined to thrust the West Bank and Gaza into chaos, in an attempt to justify an even more hard line and brutal response from Israel when Palestinian groups seek revenge. Jordan’s fears that panicked ordinary Palestinians might cross its borders in large numbers seeking refuge could well materialize. As Israelis brace themselves for what might follow, their streets deserted and their stores shuttered, hooded Palestinian militants are appearing on television citing Israel’s latest assassination as a precedent for a new international law; one in which any leader is a valid target.

Sheikh Yassin has been turned into a martyr, his ideological legacy assured in a way it could never have been had he been allowed to pass away naturally in his own bed. Perhaps Sharon had hoped to splinter Hamas into smaller more manageable groups with the killing of its spiritual leader, but the reverse is likely to be the case.

Hamas may, indeed, gain more support but there are no real winners here as both sides of the conflict can only wait to count their dead in an atmosphere of mounting violence, fear and dread.

— Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Mideast affairs and can be contacted at morgandewales@yahoo.co.uk